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Bruno malaguti

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Bruno Malaguti (Finale Emilia, December 5th, 1887 – Roma, December 2nd, 1945) was an Italian Army General.

==Early years, WW1 and post was career==
After having completed the Military School - now the Army Military Academy - of Modena, he was commissioned a second lieutenant in 1909. At the outbreak of WW1, he was a first Lieutenant in the 5th Bersaglieri Regiment and saw action between 1915-1917 during the battle to conquer the (Mount) “Col di Lana”, a mountain in the Dolomites range, the scene of fierce and bloody fighting that cost 8,000 casualties, mostly infantrymen, and was nicknamed the "Col di Sangue" or Bloody Mountain. A particularly well known episode about the fighting occurred on April 17, 1916 when a mine was detonated by Italian engineers, during the tunnel warfare phase. The mine, consisting of 5 Tons of dynamite jelly, was detonated around 11:35 p.m. Due to the explosion, part of the mountain collapsed, causing the death of about 150 Austrian soldiers and allowed the Italians to occupy the summit. However in 1917, following the defeat of Caporetto the Italians, to avoid being surrounded by the Austro-Germans offensive, had to withdraw from the position. Afterward he was assigned to the Italian Group of Army operating in France on the river Maas in the Argonne region. He took part to the Meuse-Argonne Offensive of September 1918, when the French army regained the lost territory. During his deployment in France he was wounded several times and received a promotion for merit. After the 1918 armistice, he became a member of the Inter-Allied Control and Liaison Commission in Germany. At the end of the assignment in France he returned to Italy, and in April 1928 he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. From 1934 to 1937 he was the commanding officer of the 6th Bersaglieri Regiment in Bologna until he was appointed in 1937,deputy Chief of Staff of 2nd Mobile Division "Emanuele Filiberto Testa di Ferro".
==WW2 and Russian Campaign==
In May 1940 he was promoted Brigadier General, and then at the outbreak of the hostility with France and Britain assigned as Deputy Chief of Staff to the North Africa. Promoted to Divisional General, on July 10th, 1942 he was appointed as Chief of Staff of the newly created 8th Italian Army or ARMIR the Italian Army in Russia (Armata Italiana in Russia) under General Italo Gariboldi, that had just incorporated the 35th Italian Army Corps. The 35th Army corps better known with its acronym CSIR, or Italian Expeditionary Corps in Russia, was already operating with distinction in Russia, since 1941, under Lt. Gen. Giovanni Messe. The newly created 8th Italian Army was assigned to the German General Maximilian von Weichs' Army Group B. Thinking that the Soviet army was now at the stake and that the war was going to end soon, the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, had suddenly decided to increase the Italian effort on the fight against the bolshevism in Russia, and the CSIR was thus expanded into the ARMIR. He presumed that with a bigger contingent, he would have had better chances in the future peace talks. However the CSIR commanding officer, General Giovanni Messe critically opposed the plan into a detailed report, emphasizing that an enlargement of the Italian contingent in Russia was impossible at that moment, until it could be properly equipped, and in a personal correspondence with General Gariboldi, the newly appointed ARMIR commander, General Messe asked to be replaced and repatriated. He mentioned irretrievable differences with the chain of command, without saying if that was the Italian or the German, and affirming he had taken his decision, as the Italian effort in Russia needed the highest cohesion. <ref> The 8th Army included Croatian Legions, German-Romanian units and Hungarians, and was originally to be assigned on the Caucasus front; instead they were deployed on the Don line where in the winter of 1942-43 they were overwhelmed by the Russian counter-offensive. As a consequence of the German defeat of Stalingrad at the end of January 1943 the Alpine corps withdraw towards Nikolaievka in the attempt to avoid the Russian encirclement. The 6th Joint Soviet Army Corps attacked the Italian forces composed by the Julia and the Cuneense Alpine divisions who lost contact, headed south and faced the worst fate, while the Tridentine division succeeded in a desperate attack to create a gap that saved no less than 18,000 soldiers. The Soviet success was partly achieved thanks to the knowledge of the territory and the supplies of the Anglo-American allies, who determined a military superiority and the Italian and Germanic divisions defeat. From August 20th,1942 to February 20th,1943 out of the initially 229,000 Italian soldiers, 88,548 were declared dead or missing. During March-April 1943 the ARMIR returned to Italy and was disbanded and its units were reassigned or definitively merged. Officially the ARMIR losses amounted to 114,520.


==The Italian armistice and the situation in the Julian March==

At the beginning of September 1943, the Italian forces stationing in the Julian March, were located as follow: the Julia Division, part of the Alpine Corps, under the command of General Franco Testi in the Isonzo Valley, in the Badia Valley and in the High Friuli; the Border Guard in Tarvisio, Piedicolle and in the Vipacco-Postumia area; the Turin division under the command of General Bruno Malaguti in the Gorizia area.
On the night of July 10th , the Allies landed in Sicily. On July 19th, 1943 in the villa of Senator Achille Gaggia in Feltre Mussolini met Hitler. The main issue was to discuss the military situation in Italy and the possible countermeasures. However with the end of the North African campaign the Germans had lost faith in the Italians, and thought that the Italians could no longer face the enemy as an independent command. The Germans started to enter in Italy thru the Alpine passes of northern Italy, officially to reinforce the Italian Army, but with clear instruction to keep the Italians under control, and with a plan already masterminded codenamed Operation Achse. On September 8th,1943 the terms of the Italian armistice with the Allies were broadcast by Marshal Badoglio. When the armistice was announced Germans immediately attacked Italians executing Operation Achse. The Germans who had arrived in Tarvisio since August 1943 with a Regiment of the 71st Division led by Colonel Krancke, and set up a garrison in Moggio Udinese. When the armistice become public they acted quickly. Their main purpose was to disarm and take prisoner the Italian forces, seize their assets, and occupying the main centers. However many Italian units were able to stand some weeks after the armistice.


==Situation in the Julian March and the battle for Gorizia==

The Torino Division of General Bruno Malaguti on September 8th, 1943 with a strength of around 54,000 men, was deployed as follow: The Division Headquarters were in Gorizia; the 82nd Infantry and artillery support under Colonel Gatta at the mouth of the Isonzo river on the Monte Santo – Sabotino; the divisional machine gun battalion reinforced by an artillery battery in Zolla now Col, near Aidussina in the eastern part of the Vipava Valley; the 82nd Infantry – under Colonel Longo, reinforced by two Artillery batteries, in Prevallo now Razdrto, near Postumia on the Postumia-Aidussina road.
These units were instructed to prevent the Germans to enter in Gorizia and in case their strength was superior discuss with them the terms of a truce; avoid of being disarmed and in case respond if attacked.<ref>
Between September 8-11 - the Italian units had two major engagements with the Germans, respectively in Val d'Isonzo, between Monte Santo and Sabotino (82nd Infantry) and Prevallo/Razderto (81th Infantry). The first incident escalated when the German troops under Colonel Scharemberg, wanted to seize the bridge on the Isonzo river in Salcano; the Italian troops reacted opening fire against the Germans. The second begun when a battalion of the 81st Infantry in the attempt to reach the Prevallo pass, found it occupied by German troops. As a result of the engagement the Germans had to abandon the position. During the fight the 81st battalion commander was injured and Lieutenant Giuseppe Rimbotti of the 81st regiment, was awarded the gold medal for military valor for gallantry. According to the Slovenian and former partisan Tone Ferenc the resistance of the Italian Army, the Divisione Torino along with the Border Guard Corps and of the Alpine Julia in Gorizia, prevented the Germans to enter into the city until they were ordered by the 24 army Corps of Udine to disengage and redeploy.
The Italian soldiers paid a large tribute for their behavior: 157 dead, of whom 29 captured in Salcano/Solkan, executed and buried by the Germans in an old trench in Sella Montesanto (now in Slovenia), near the city limits. After September 8th, 12 Italian Army divisions of the Italian army deployed on the eastern front refused to hand over arms. The Germans suffered 90 loss. Most of the disbanded soldiers joined the early partisan groups as the Osoppo Brigade and, the Garibaldi Brigade formed in December 1943 by soldiers of the Taurinense and Venice divisions. However the German were able to rally many others Italian disbanded Italian soldiers who, during the chaotic days after the armistice. They were rallied into the Baiamonti Stadium, disarmed and asked to join the German Forces. Only few did, while the others were marched to the Northern Station and loaded into trains who headed Germany. Before being arrested on September 13th, 1943, General Malaguti ordered the release of all political prisoners from prisons and concentration camps.

==Malaguti arrest and dead==


Following the events of the battle of Gorizia, General Malaguti was apprehended and after a brief detention in Ljubljana interned in Stammlager XX-A into fortress of Thorn in Poland on September 16th, 1943. During that time he was judged, by a German War Tribunal, and declared an enemy of Germany. On February 28th, 1944 he was handed over to the RSI, the Newly Created Puppet Italian state and detained in Verona, Venice and Brescia. He was tried in Brescia by the Special War Tribunal in January 1945. Sentenced to death along with other prisoners he was freed on April 25, 1945, escaping the firing squad. Transferred to Rome by order of the Allied command, he remained at the disposal of the Ministry of Defense as a reporting officer. However, the severe condition of his captivity took their toll on the General health. Admitted to the Virgilio hospital in Rome, he died on 2 December 1945 due to the consequences of his imprisonment. His native city, Finale Emilia has a Street named in his honor.


==REFERENCES==
•Teodoro Francesconi, Gorizia 1940-1947, Uomo Libero, 1990, pp. 48, 50-51, SBN IT\ICCU\CFI\0201508.<ref>
•Luciano Patat, capitoli 6 e 21, in Percorsi della memoria civile, la resistenza nella provincia di Gorizia, Udine, IFSML, 2005, pp. 31,76, ISBN 88-87388-28-8, SBN IT\ICCU\TSA\0858564.<ref>
•Luciano Patat, Gorizia settembre 1943 La resistenza dei Militari Italiani, Periodico Storia contemporanea del Friuli nº 35 anno 2004, pp. 28,37,42, ISSN 1127-0977 (WC · ACNP), SBN IT\ICCU\IEI\0384749.<ref>
•Giuseppe Silvestri, Albergo agli Scalzi, Garzanti editore, 1946, SBN IT\ICCU\IEI\0164247.
•Giuseppe Silvestri, Albergo agli Scalzi, Neri Pozza editore, 1963, pp. 183, 201, SBN IT\ICCU\LO1\0366749.
•Tone Ferenc, Atti della tavola rotonda: Battaglia partigiana di Gorizia : preludio della resistenza italiana nel Friuli orientale, editore Provincia di Gorizia, 1973, SBN IT\ICCU\IEI\0130199.<ref>
•Stefano Di Giusto, Operationszone Adriatisches Küstenland : Udine, Gorizia, Trieste, Pola, Fiume e Lubiana durante l'occupazione tedesca, 1943-1945, Udine, Ifsml, 2005, pp. 26, 41-42, 48-49, 207, ISBN 88-87388-15-6, SBN IT\ICCU\TSA\0767603.
•Luciano Spangher, Gorizia 8 settembre 1943 carteggi Goriziani di guerra, Ed. Senaus, 2008, pp. 31, 63-65, ISBN 88-95201-09-4, SBN IT\ICCU\TSA\1111444.
•Italico Chiarion, Luciano Patat e Carlo Michelutti, Per il 70° della battaglia di Gorizia, Scritti 2013, SBN IT\ICCU\TSA\1404890.
•Ugo Dragoni, La scelta degli I. M. I.: militari italiani prigionieri in Germania 1943-194, prefazione di Giorgio Rochat, ed. Le lettere, 1996, ISBN 88-7166-284-9, SBN IT\ICCU\MOD\0247193.
•Gerard Schreiberg, I militari italiani internati nei campi di concentramento del terzo Reich 1943- 1945 : traditi, disprezzati, dimenticati, traduzione di Friedrun Mazza e Giulio Primicerj, Roma, Ufficio storico SME, 1992, SBN IT\ICCU\MIL\0168312.
•Franco Miccoli, Carabinieri a Gorizia 1942 – 1945: Memorie degli anni bui, Trieste, Ifsml, 2013, ISBN 978-88-98796-09-0, SBN IT\ICCU\TSA\1399894.
•Mario Torsiello, Le operazioni delle unità italiane nel settembre-ottobre 1943, Roma, SME Ufficio storico, 1975, SBN IT\ICCU\SBL\0054356.
•Giulio Bedeschi, Centomila gavette di ghiaccio, Mursia, 1994, ISBN 88-425-1746-1, SBN IT\ICCU\LIA\0025876.
•Italo Gariboldi, La frontiera italo-jugoslava: La zona di confine in generale, vol. 1 e 2, cap. 3 e 4, Roma, Istituto poligrafico dello Stato, 1931, SBN IT\ICCU\IEI\0150323.
•Quinto Casadio, Una resistenza rimasta nell'ombra: l'8 settembre 1943 e gli internati militari italiani in Germania, Imola, ed. La mandragora, 2004, ISBN 88-7586-027-0, SBN IT\ICCU\UBO\2593399.
•Ettore Musco, La verità sull'8 settembre 1943, Garzanti, 1976, SBN IT\ICCU\RLZ\0060034.
•Giovanni Messe, La guerra al fronte russo: il Corpo di spedizione italiano (CSIR), Milano, Rizzoli, 1954, SBN IT\ICCU\AQ1\0038593. <ref>
•Luciano Patat, La battaglia partigiana di Gorizia : la resistenza dei militari e la "brigata proletaria" (8-30 settembre 1943), parte 1 - parte 3 (p.83-88), Gradisca d'Isonzo, Centro isontino di ricerca e documentazione storica e sociale Leopoldo Gasparini, 2015, SBN IT\ICCU\TSA\1447292.
•Giorgio Visintin, Guerra di liberazione sui confini orientali, 1956, SBN IT\ICCU\TSA\0697803.
•La campagna di Russia CSIR ARMIR Grafica Nazionale Editrice, 1951 Roma.<ref>


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